aWoD: Continued

[Grek]

I see no way to make a formula that allows for a 35 being to lift 60 tonnes without making lower strength values wonky. As such, I recomend just making a special rule for Kaiju that allow them to carry home their strength in tonnes and lift twice that.

[Hicks]

the Strength table for 1 to 9 remains unchanged. For a Strength of 10+ a monster can heft a Carry Home mass of ((Strength - 8) x Strength 10s digit) tons, and twice that as their Maximum Lift.
[b]EXAMPLE[/b][/td][/tr]

Strength	Carry Home	Maximum Lift
10	2 tons	4 tons
11	3 tons	6 tons
12	4 tons	8 tons
13	5 tons	10 tons
14	6 tons	12 tons
15	7 tons	14 tons
20	24 tons	48 tons
25	34 tons	68 tons
30	66 tons	132 tons
35	81 tons	162 tons

[Grek]

Are those tons, as in 2000 lbs, or tonnes, as in a million grams? One's a bit over twice as big as the other.

[Lokathor]

the million grams / 1,000kg version. Everything lower in the chart is in tens or hundreds of kg, so it's clear when you see the whole chart.

[fectin]

Are those tons, as in 2000 lbs, or tonnes, as in a million grams? One's a bit over twice as big as the other.

Actually, they're about the same. A million grams is roughly 2200 pounds.

[CatharzGodfoot]

How do powers interact with Veil of Morpheus? Is it possible to appear in someone's dream and then use Mesmerism? Can you use Theft of Vitae, and does that require Horrid Reality?

Also, what normally happens vis Mictlan and ghosts when a character dies? Is killing yourself a sure-fire way to get into the Gloom?

[virgil]

What happens to supernaturals when they die? Do they automatically become ghosts, even vampires? Do they retain their old powers in addition to those gained from becoming a ghost? This is of particular interest in light of the Reanimate power.

[Orion]

You need to add a section about what happens to your magic effects and to your body when you are knocked out or killed. Questions include:

Dracula turns into mist, but I kill him with my bokken. Do I get a humanoid corpse, a pool of water that counts as a corpse, or is his body "destroyed?" What if I just knock him out?

I nuke a swarm with a fireball, killing it. Can I stake it with a silver dagger to prevent it from respawning? What does its "body" look like?

An enemy Icarid has the activated version of empty body running. I shoot him in the heart with an iron bullet. Can I sling him in a body bag, or do I need an iron coffin?

I kill a powerful Baali. Do any of the following end?
--Passive disciplines (Fire Walking)
--Activated personal disciplines (Aura of Decay)
--temporary disciplines affecting others (Transformation)
--temporary disciplines effecting the environment (Rising Mists)
--permanent enchantments on things (Mirror Pocket)
--permanent enchantments on people (Conditioning)

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A little more clarity on how dispelling works would also be nice.

Can you proactively dispel a discipline that is not in use, or do you have to wait for them to use it? Can you dispel more than one of an enemy's discipline with one attack? (I assume not) Can you dispel more than one discipline affecting an ally with one action? (I assume not). Should "remote attack" spells be suppressed until sundown, rather than for 1 scene? (yes)

I throw rice on a Strigoi, suppressing his Mesmerism. Does this affect people he's already given orders to? What if they're out of the room?

I assume that dispelling an enchantment from a victim gives the victim immunity from that power from that caster for 1 scene, but doesn't not prevent the caster from using it on others. However, for powers that involve some kind of mental contact, like Summons and Chain of Eyes, maybe it should prevent the caster from using that power at all.

Why can't Mind Numb be dispelled?

My body dies, so I jump into a cat I had prepared with Soul Investment. If a Luminary throws salt on me, do I die?

A mile away from me, a Deep One turns on the big version of Rising Mist, causing my magnet to go crazy. Can I dispel it by throwing some salt in the air?

A Storm Lord is currently casting Tumultuous Rain. Can I dispel it by flying up to a cloud and throwing salt at it? What about after he's "done" casting?

Can I use salt to neutralize Bitter Fruit poisons?

If Mind Root is dispelled, do the victims return to normal or die?

An Icarid sent my friend into Frenzy with Dark Night of the Soul. Can I calm him by dispelling it?

I'm assuming that all the disciplines which create creatures or objects, or summon creatures, cannot be dispelled once they have taken effect. Are portals created by Scorch the Gateway, Shadow Gate, etc. considered objects or enchantments?
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Non-dispel related questions:

Why doesn't Songs in the Dark make Swarms?

Does Object of Envy trigger Greed/Loneliness frenzies in characters who have those passions, or in everyone?

I turn on Aura of Decay. People start shooting at me. Do I need to spend any actions to destroy the bullets? How many power points do I spend? One per scene, one per attack, or one per attack that would have hit?

Is Death Knell damage resistible? Even if it is, it still seems like a villain with Death Knell is ricockulously punishing to Orphic PCs.

Summon Ghost: How do you justify people from history (about whom you may have extensive knowledge) being more difficult than people whose name you don't even know?

ETA: Blind the Senses and Chimerstry need to be dispellable. Possibly Flesh of Marble too, I'm not really sure.

[CatharzGodfoot]

Death should be equivalent to a successful total dispel targeting the deceased. So when you kill a person who is using Form of Mist, War Form, Empty Body (activated) or Swarm Body, their body returns to normal (coalescing if necessary).

I throw rice on a Strigoi, suppressing his Mesmerism. Does this affect people he's already given orders to? What if they're out of the room?

All uses of Dominate can be disrupted as if it were a Sorcery with a power source identical to the character using it. The target to dispel can be the dominating character or the dominated target.

Why doesn't Songs in the Dark make Swarms?

Because Swarm Song powers make swarms.

[Orion]

Catharz,

--You can't dispel Empty Body, even when it's acitvated.

--I'm aware of that sentence from the DOminate writeup. It's not totally clear how it works, and the reading I think you're advocating strikes me as absurd.

--A Swarm is an Astral monster classified as a Giant Animal. Song of Swarms does not make one. It is one of the only nonplayable monsters that cannot currently be created or summoned. (Spriggans and Trolls are the only others).

[Orion]

EDIT TO ADD: Why does the Sabbat protect Luchadores?


Unattractive is a social flaw, but it says it makes you "physically unattractive." Did you mean "sexually unattractive?". If you change your appearance with MoTF, does it go away?

A whole fuckton of flaws can be negated by Mask, actually. That's fine for those that are serious drawbacks, like blatant magic or consumption. But some flaws are both relatively trivial AND trivially negated. Minority (unless you have an accent), Minor, Unattractive (unless it's a charisma thing), and Distinctive are especially lame flaws. I'm not sure it's actually worth doing anything about--you kinda have to assume that players presented with flaws will be able to get around those flaws--but I thought I'd mention it.

[CatharzGodfoot]

Catharz,

--You can't dispel Empty Body, even when it's acitvated.

Damn'. Unfortunately you can't just say that being dead works as well as a supernatural weakness for suppressing powers, because of Restoration.

--I'm aware of that sentence from the DOminate writeup. It's not totally clear how it works, and the reading I think you're advocating strikes me as absurd.

Please explain.

--A Swarm is an Astral monster classified as a Giant Animal. Song of Swarms does not make one. It is one of the only nonplayable monsters that cannot currently be created or summoned. (Spriggans and Trolls are the only others).

Maybe if you had both The Beckoning and Songs in the Dark? After all, you need some way of affecting all of the creatures which will make up the swarm. Songs in the Dark alone would just make a single really big rat or sparrow or whatever.

Does Object of Envy trigger Greed/Loneliness frenzies in characters who have those passions, or in everyone?

My guess is yes.

I turn on Aura of Decay. People start shooting at me. Do I need to spend any actions to destroy the bullets? How many power points do I spend? One per scene, one per attack, or one per attack that would have hit?

I'd guess once per attack that would have hit; no action once you have the power activated.

[Orion]

A Swarm is seriously just a sphere of magic that makes birds angry. You don't need any birds on hand to make a Swarm.

EDIT:

Okay, I've re-read all the Dominate stuff. I'm an idiot. The rules are actually perfectly clear, I just dislike them so much that I unconsciously misinterpreted them. If I had my way, you could only dispel Authority at the target, and only for the basic disciplines. The advanced ones shouldn't even be able to be dispelled.

Actually the Swarm writeup needs a lot of work. It needs a stat line, since it's a nonhuman. It might also need always-on Giant Size so player's can easily carry one or put it in a box or whatever.

[Username17]

EDIT TO ADD: Why does the Sabbat protect Luchadores?

That's just the Sabbat in Mexico City. Really it's because they are incredibly top to bottom infested with cultural memes from the "Reign of Blood" days of Aztec rule, and are only superficially part of the Sabbat at all. But internally they present the idea as being a comic book supervilain slash cold war "great game" thing where luminaries who are not (yet) on board are fought in stylized and less lethal fashions. And periodically one of them gets inducted into team monster via vampire bite or whatever.

Sabbat in Italy think this is completely fucking insane.

The rules are actually perfectly clear, I just dislike them so much that I unconsciously misinterpreted them. If I had my way, you could only dispel Authority at the target, and only for the basic disciplines. The advanced ones shouldn't even be able to be dispelled.

You don't think that memory wipes or conditionings should be dispellable and you don't think that dumping water on the Wicked Witch should free her mind controlled ogre? Why not?

-Username17

[Orion]

Removing memory wipes and conditioning should be done by people with Purify the Mind, mostly so they have something to do.

As for the basic disciplines, the thing is that when you use Suggestion on someone, and they go off to do something, it doesn't feel to me like you have any kind of ongoing mental connection to them, and it's weird to think that you could throw salt on a witch to cause a suggested dude miles away to stop doing what he's doing. I guess I'd be okay with Command or Mesmerism being dispelled that way.

[CatharzGodfoot]

As for the basic disciplines, the thing is that when you use Suggestion on someone, and they go off to do something, it doesn't feel to me like you have any kind of ongoing mental connection to them, and it's weird to think that you could throw salt on a witch to cause a suggested dude miles away to stop doing what he's doing. I guess I'd be okay with Command or Mesmerism being dispelled that way.

All Suggestion does is make someone say something. After that the magic is gone.

[Orion]

But internally they present the idea as being a comic book supervilain slash cold war "great game" thing where luminaries who are not (yet) on board are fought in stylized and less lethal fashions. And periodically one of them gets inducted into team monster via vampire bite or whatever.

Sabbat in Italy think this is completely fucking insane.

Just so we're clear-- it is totally insane, right? What is the actual benefit to doing this?

[Username17]

But internally they present the idea as being a comic book supervilain slash cold war "great game" thing where luminaries who are not (yet) on board are fought in stylized and less lethal fashions. And periodically one of them gets inducted into team monster via vampire bite or whatever.

Sabbat in Italy think this is completely fucking insane.

Just so we're clear-- it is totally insane, right? What is the actual benefit to doing this?

It's complicated. The system as a whole maximizes the survival of Luminaries and by extension increases the recruiting pool of vampires and werewolves. Mexico City thus gets more new supernatural creatures over time than other cities doing other things. If Mexico City's Sabbat went to war with Rome's it would crush them.

The disadvantage of course is that you have Curanderas talking about how magic works in public and Luchadores playing boy detective monster hunter. In short: it's a lot like the pre-Masquerade system that everyone else decided was too fucking dangerous.

-Username17

[CatharzGodfoot]

[*]One of the inspirations for Baali is listed as Imhotep (in fact, you quote him).
[*]One of the inspirations listed for Fallen is Ayesha.

But Ayesha and Imhotep are pretty clearly exactly the same thing. This goes beyond their doomed love for Reborn which each is destroyed by. They have similar cults, similar mindsets, and similar powers. Consider the following quote from Ayesha (1935 She):

"Do you think I'm cruel for the sake of cruelty? How do you think I rule these people? It's not by force, but by terror. My empire is of imagination."

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be both Fallen and Baali. Just that the two might be a bit muddled at the moment. Consider that Baali have Forgetful Mind for a core advanced discipline, and yet it is Fallen that are described thus:

"Not only are Fallen simply unmemorable to Extras, but even documents pertaining to them just "get lost". And it isn’t merely that their rental contracts get accidentally thrown out, though that does happen. Fallen find copies of old yearbooks that simply don’t contain any pictures of them."

[Username17]

I admit that it's been a while since I've seen either She or the original Mummy, but I don't recall them as being terribly similar. Ayesha's entire kingdom had vanished utterly from the map and history, and she rules her kingdom with utter fear. Imhotep is an apparently well known historical figure who can control minds by glaring at people individually.

Secondly: Ayesha is immortal, but Imhotep simply has Restoration. Ayesha has been doing her helenistic civilization thing for two thousand years straight, but Imhotep was actually dead in a box until someone uses the Scroll of Thoth to give him some power points so he can come back to life. There's no evidence at all that Imhotep doesn't age normally while he's being not-dead.

-Username17

[CatharzGodfoot]

True enough; the Mummy hypnotizes while She explicitly dazzles with her Presence.

But it is Ayesha who restores her power by having dozens tortured to death, while Imhotep uses the rituals surrounding the scroll.

The aging issue I had not considered. I assumed that Imhotep was undead, and that he was going to grant similar immortality to Anck-es-en-amon by killing her. As you say, though, there's nothing to indicate that he is immortal beyond his mummy-like skin.

[Orion]

Does Tumultuous Rain block enough sunlight for a vampire to use magic outside?

ETA: Which of the following are valid targets for adaptive resilience? Bullets, iron, iron bullets, orphic magic, Lure of Destruction, mind control?

EDIT: What is a driving passion supposed to be? An emotion, an agenda, what?

[Blasted]

Does Tumultuous Rain block enough sunlight for a vampire to use magic outside?

No Pinky, we can't conquer the world tonight, it's raining.

[CatharzGodfoot]

I'd really like to hear from Frank on this too, but here are my opinions:

Does Tumultuous Rain block enough sunlight for a vampire to use magic outside?

My guess, although, is that it will block enough sun, but that a creature weakened by sun can't actually use the power when the sun is visible.

ETA: Which of the following are valid targets for adaptive resilience? Bullets, iron, iron bullets, orphic magic, Lure of Destruction, mind control?

[*]Bullets or iron: yes.
[*]iron bullets: yes, but you don't need to be that specific.
[*]orphic magic: no.
[*]Lure of Destruction: yes.
[*]mind control: no (but Domination or Presence yes).

Remember, though, that if you're weak to iron the resistance bonus to soak won't apply against anything made of iron.

EDIT: What is a driving passion supposed to be? An emotion, an agenda, what?

It's supposed to be your primary emotional motivator for doing stuff. So it's not an emotion (it drives your emotions) and it's not an agenda (it informs your agendas).

[Orion]

So a good driving passion would be something like "protecting children" or "amassing wealth" or "killing demons"?